The Secret Doctrine of Goddess Lalita
(Sri LalitaAṣṭottara Rahasyārthamu)
45. sumēru madhyaśṛṅgasthā 47. chintāmaṇi gṛhāntasthā
She who sits on the middle peak of Mount Sumeru.
She who sits in the house built of chintāmaṇi. (the wish-full-filling gem).
Devī not only appears as the skin, semen, etc. in our body, She also ascends Mount Sumeru and stations Herself in the middle peak called merudaṇḍa or brahmadaṇḍa. This mountain is not visible externally. It is inside the body, in the middle of the spinal cord that stretches from the bottom of the spine (mūlādhāra) to the crown of the head (sahasrāra). It is the foundational pillar that supports the entire structure of the human body. If the pillar is damaged, the body will no longer function as it should.
On the left and right side of the brahmadaṇḍa (spinal cord) are two nāḍī-s (channels) called ida and piṅgala through which śakti flows upwards. In the center, between these two, is the suṣumṇā nāḍī, which also flows upwards. Yogis call this energy kundalini (coiled female serpent) because, like a serpent that uncoils itself and crawls out of its nest and rests in a cave, suṣumṇā nāḍī starts from the root chakra and crawls upwards to the crown chakra and rests there.
The seeker who recognizes this upward movement of the śakti will realize his true nature and be liberated. This upward movement of śakti manifests in the seeker as the desire to know the Self (Self-inquiry) and the recognition of the Self. To liberate the seeker, śakti enters the cave of his intellect in the form of Self-Knowledge and waits for his realization. That cave or intellect is the house of chintāmaṇi. chintā refers to the activity of the mind and intellect. The ongoing flow of thoughts are like a string of gem stones (maṇi). The mind is like an ocean, and the thoughts that arise from in it are like the waves in the ocean. Repetitive thoughts harden into tendencies (vāsanā-s). Like the lingering scent of the kadamba tree, these tendencies cling to the tree called the body. Devī pervades this entire tree, from its roots to its crown. She is chintāmaṇi, the supreme intelligence that resides in our intellect, that can free us from vāsanā-s and liberate us. Hence, Devī is both the means and the end. There is nothing outside Her power.
47: jñānavigrahā 48.ātmā
She who is the embodiment of Knowledge.
She who is the Self in all.
Hence, śakti manifests as the conglomeration of different parts that we call our body. We perceive the body as an object. An object is that which is known to a knower. In reality, however, the body is not an object. It is Knowledge itself! When everything is pervaded by Devī, who is pure Knowledge or Awareness, how can there be forms or objects that are separate from Her? If She has a form, that form can only be Awareness. A form that is not a form. Awareness is formless. Awareness pervades the entire body and mind. If there is no touch of Awareness, there is no experience. If a thorn is stuck in our foot, we feel the pain all the way in our head. It does not stop at our foot. Without Awareness, we would not even be aware or experience the fact that we have a foot. Without Awareness, we would not be aware of the world outside. Because our Awareness expands and pervades the Sun, we are aware of the Sun. Therefore, for an object to exist or for us to know that it exists, Consciousness must first be present.
Another name for this Knowledge, Awareness, or Consciousness is ātmā. That which is expansive is ātmā. ātmā pervades the entire world (objects), cognizes the world as the Self (subject), dissolves the world completely in Itself, and continues in its formless nature as the Universal Consciousness. Therefore, ātmā is the object (known), the subject (knower of the object), and the Self in all. It is the experience or awareness that “I Am.” Just as It is aware of Its own existence (Self), ātmā is also aware of the existence of the world (not Self). All experiences in essence are of the same nature, whether it is the experience of the Self or of the world. Experience is Knowledge. Knowledge is the same regardless of its content.
49: ābālagōpa viditā
She who is well known to all, from a child to a cowherd.
We have so far discussed the nature of ātmā and concluded that everything we perceive is of the nature of ātmā. ātmā is not like an object that is out of reach. It is the substance that is directly known and experienced by everyone equally, from the least intelligent (bāla) to the most intelligent (gōpa).
How do we know for a fact that ātmā is experienced equally by everyone? When someone asks us, “who are you?,” our answer invariably starts with “I Am...” We do not distance ourselves from our Self by saying “I am not...” Because we intuitively are aware of our own Self, we utter the words “I Am…” spontaneously. This intuitive I-Am-ness or Self-awareness is ātmā. It is experienced equally by everyone, from an innocent child to a learned scholar. However, although ātmā is our very nature, we do not perceive It because we identify with particulars, such as the body, life-force, and mind, and not with the underlying Consciousness in which they appear. We consider the world real and engage with it with a sense of doer-ship and enjoyer-ship. We totally identify with the objects we perceive and fail to separate ourselves from them. We do not realize that we are the Consciousness in which the objects appear and disappear.
When we stop identifying with the world (anātmā) and perceive everything as the Self (ātmā), when there is nothing left to bind us, we will be free of saṃsāra. Even a learned scholar is as good as an ignorant person, if he sees the world and himself as separate entities. Only the one who realizes the Self and sees the Self in All is the Accomplished one (paṇḍita). Expertise in a particular field of knowledge does not make one a paṇḍita. As long as one sees duality - me and mine, Self and not-self, one remains in ignorance. He is the Self, but not the knower of the Self.
50. manōrūpēkṣukōdaṇḍā 51. pañchatanmātra sāyakā 52. rāgasvarūpa pāśāḍhyā 53. krōdhākārāṅkuśōjjvalā
She who holds in Her hand a sugarcane bow that represents the mind.
She who holds the five subtle elements as arrows (touch, smell, hearing, taste, and, sight).
She who holds the rope of love in Her hand.
She who shines bearing the goad of anger.
Because of our dualist minds, we do not recognize the non-dual Self or ātmā that is ever present and shining in our body as the Universal Self that pervades everything. Instead of a homogenous vision that sees the universal, we have a heterogenous vision that sees particulars. Mind is a fragment of the Universal Consciousness. Although it is of the nature of Consciousness, it is not complete or universal because it is fragmented by vṛtti-s or thought-modifications. Like waves in an ocean, thoughts rise and subside in the mind endlessly, creating a fragmented vision.
Supreme Consciousness has entered and stationed Itself in the mind. The mind has been described earlier as chintāmaṇi, the jewel of Consciousness. Although Devī pervades everything, Her presence is felt most strongly in the mind or the intellect. However, only one in a million of seekers realize this. Even though the mind is our only means to realize the Truth, instead of using it for that purpose, we foolishly squander it on pleasures. To remind us about the nature of the mind, Devī holds a sugarcane bow in Her hand. The juice in the sugarcane is pleasure. But the cane is destructive. Like the sweetness that pervades every drop of the juice, thoughts pervade the mind. The more we extract and enjoy the sweetness of the sugarcane, the more our desire for it grows. Similarly, the more we indulge our mind and senses in pleasures, the more our desire grows. Desire and greed only increase if we keep trying to satisfy our mind and senses. That is why the mind is compared to a sugarcane.
Devī holds the mind like a bow in Her hand. The mind that seeks pleasure is the sugarcane bow in Her hands. Although it appears like a source of pleasure, the bow is a destructive weapon. Devi strings the bow with arrows and shoots them one after the other. These arrows are the five senses called the tanmātra-s – touch, smell, sound, form, and taste. Like arrows, they enter the mind through the senses organs and generate sensuous thoughts and feelings. Persisting thoughts, sensations, and emotions become strong tendencies (vāsanā-s) that give way to for even more stronger thoughts, sensations, and emotions. Devī strings the bow called the mind and shoots the arrows called thoughts and emotions. This is a vicious cycle. The mind is constantly pulled in multiple directions by the sense organs, which are also weapons in the hands of Devī.
Besides the bow, Devī holds two other weapons in Her hand – a rope (pāśaṃ) and a hook (aṅkuśam). The rope stands for desires (likes) and the hook stands for anger (dislikes). Devī binds us with the rope and pierces us with the hook. Likes and dislikes are the cause for the pleasures and pains we experience in life.
These four nāma-s clearly describe what bondage is. Desires activate the senses. Senses activate the mind. The activated mind turns towards objects to satisfy the desires. If the results of its actions are satisfactory, it experiences pleasure. If they are not satisfactory, it experiences pain. Hence, likes and dislikes are bondage.
What do the tools that Devī holds in Her four hands signify? That the mind and sense organs, likes and dislikes, are in the hands of Devī. We have no control over them. Because we lack the knowledge of the Self, we are born as prisoners and continue to live as prisoners of our mind and sense organs. As long as we are ignorant (lack the Knowledge of the Self), Devī will continue to shoot Her arrows at us. If we pray to Her in earnest to rid us of the disease called ignorance, She will withdraw Her weapons and bestow Knowledge. She can free us from saṃsāra or entrench us deeply in it. It is to reveal the truth that Knowledge alone can free us from saṃsāra that Devī is described as holding four powerful weapons in Her hands.
54. sarvamōhinī
She who deludes all.
Those who do not realize the truth and fail to grasp Devī as their own Self will continue to remain in deep slumber, steeped in ignorance. In spite of attaining a human birth, they will live meaningless lives like animals. They will make no effort whatsoever to understand the nature of the world and transcend it. The great enchantress, mahāmāyā, will continue to tempt and drown such people in the ocean of desires. She is after all sarvamōhinī, the one who deludes all. Her very nature is to enchant and delude the ignorant. Since almost every human being on earth is deluded by the world and lives in ignorance, Devī is verily called sarvamōhinī.
Synopsis
In the 54 nāma-s we discussed so far, from the first nāma (śri māta) to the last nāma (sarvamōhinī), we have discussed the descent of the Goddess from the un-manifest to the manifest. As mahāśakti, She is the creator-sustainer-destroyer of the universe. As jaganmāta, She is the Divine Mother who nourishes the Universe. How can such a mother willfully drown Her children in the ocean of saṃsāra? Shouldn’t a mother have only love and compassion, for her children? It is natural for one to wonder why the Divine Mother operates in such a seemingly vengeful manner towards Her creation. We answered this question earlier. But let us discuss it in more detail now.
There is no doubt that Devi is the Divine Mother. Because She is the mother, She does not hate us, nor does She willfully throw us into the ocean of saṃsāra. In reality, She does not move from Her natural state as Pure Consciousness at all. That there is a world is only a notion imagined by the ignorant mind. Due to avidyā (nescience), we have forgotten the real nature of our Self, which is undifferentiated Pure Consciousness. Instead, we have divided it into two fragments, the finite self (jīvā) and the world (jagat). Because of this fragmented view of the Self, we are subject to three afflictions - physical, environmental, and karmic. We ascribe our suffering to the tirodhāna śakti or the concealing power of Devī.
The truth is Devī never really concealed Herself from us. Since She is Consciousness Itself, She is shining everywhere as Existence-Consciousness (sat-cīt). Whatever we perceive, jīvā or jagat, we are aware of its existence (Beingness). Without any distinction, whether it is “me or “mine,” everything presents itself as sat-cīt, Existence-Consciousness. Since She shines as presence everywhere, how can Devī conceal Her true nature? It is our own limited mind and intellect that fail to recognize the truth.
Hence, it is only a misconception produced by a faulty vision that makes us think Devī descended from Her abode, created this world, and trapped us helplessly in it. In reality, however, neither did She descend into the world nor did She trap us in it. These are mere notions, imagination, and not the Absolute Truth. We cannot ascribe descent or delusion to the Goddess. The problem is the jīvā, the notional separate-self, born out of ignorance that drowns itself in an imagined saṃsāra and erroneously ascribes its plight to the Goddess.
Hence, we are to blame ourselves, and not the Divine Mother for our suffering. It is our ignorance, our inability to recognize the divine nature of our own Self that is the problem. It is ignorance that keeps us separate and away from our true Self, which is Devī Herself. That separation, the distancing of ourselves from our source, is the descent (avarohaṇa). The moment Knowledge arises and ignorance is removed, we will find ourselves back in the lap of the Divine Mother. This realization or knowledge of the Self is the ascent (ārohaṇa). The ascent and descent of the Goddess must be understood as the ascent and descent of the jīvā.
We have now completed the study of the nāma-s that describe the descent of Devī. In the next chapter, we will study the 54 nāma-s that describe Her ascent.